''Maytenus oleoides'', commonly known as the mountain maytenus or rock false candlewood, is a dense, medium-sized tree that grows throughout the western half of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It is known as klipkershout in

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

Description

The bark of ''Maytenus oleoides'' is greyish-brown, smooth when young but becoming rugged and corky as it ages, with vertical grooves and transverse cracks. The leaves are alternate, oval, with a narrow base, stiff and leathery, mid-green with a bluish tinge. The margins are inrolled and smooth and the apex is rounded, or may be notched. The midribs are ridged, and when the leaves are snapped in half they differ from some other ''

Maytenus ''Maytenus'' ''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is a genus of flowering plants in the family Celastraceae. Members of the genus are distributed throughout Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Micronesia and Australasia, the Indi ...

'' species such as ''

Maytenus acuminata ''Maytenus acuminata'' (also called the silky bark, umNama or Sybas) is a variable, medium-sized, evergreen tree indigenous to Africa, including South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost ...

'' in not having pale threads linking the halves. The young foliage is reddish. The flowers are small and grow in clusters in the axils of the leaves. The flowering period is normally from August to November but in

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden Kirstenbosch is an important botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of 10 National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa's six different biomes and administered by the South A ...

, some specimens flower in May and June. The fruits are about in diameter and consist of a fleshy pale green, two-lobed capsule that dries and turns pale orange in the summer, before splitting open to reveal the seeds within a yellow

aril An aril (pronounced ), also called an arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode or false aril is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the see ...

Distribution and habitat

''Maytenus oleoides'' is native to South Africa where it occurs in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

, in part of the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

and in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

, including the Groot Winterhoek Mountains,

Table Mountain Table Mountain ( naq, Huriǂoaxa, lit= sea-emerging; af, Tafelberg) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the ...

and the

Cape Peninsula The Cape Peninsula ( af, Kaapse Skiereiland) is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of ...

. At high altitudes it grows as a shrub or dwarf tree but at lower elevations it forms a more robust, small tree up to high with a spreading crown. It mostly grows in woodland along streams and on scree slopes. The climate is one of cool moist winters and dry warm summers, with an average precipitation of which mostly falls between May and August.

Fire ecology

The

fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

shrublands in South Africa are prone to

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

s, which happen about every twenty years. The intervening patches of evergreen forest which occupy about 10% of the land consist mostly of ''Maytenus oleoides'', ''

Cunonia capensis ''Cunonia capensis'', the butterspoon tree, butterknife tree, African red alder, red alder or rooiels, is a small tree found in the afromontane forests of southern Africa, and along rivers. It is grown as an ornamental in gardens for its attract ...

'', ''

Kiggelaria africana ''Kiggelaria africana'' (also known as the wild peach or umKokoko) is a large, robust, low-branching African tree, and is currently the only accepted species in the genus ''Kiggelaria''. Despite its common name, ''Kiggelaria africana'' is not re ...

'', ''

Ilex mitis ''Ilex mitis'' (commonly called Cape holly, African holly, waterboom or umDuma) is a tall, dense, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It makes an excellent fast-growing hedge for gardens - growing tall, stra ...

'' and ''

Brabejum stellatifolium ''Brabejum'' is a genus of a single species of large evergreen tree, ''Brabejum stellatifolium'' in the family Proteaceae, commonly called wild almond, bitter almond or ghoeboontjie. It is restricted in the wild to South Africa's Western Cape pro ...

''. Wildfires may burn the leaf litter but only spread to the crown canopy of forest trees if the fire is very intense. This may be because the tree foliage has a higher moisture content than that of the surrounding fynbos shrubs. The foliage may not burn but the trees may be scorched, however they have great regenerative ability and readily sprout from the blackened branches.

Pictures

File:Maytenus oleoides - 5.JPG, Detail of foliage File:Maytenus oleoides - Mountain Candlewood Tree - Trunk.jpg, Trunk and branches File:Maytenus oleoides - Cape Town - trunk and bark.JPG, The mountain maytenus has soft corky bark.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6798026 oleoides Flora of South Africa Trees of South Africa